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Step 1
Choose who is the East. The East is the one who begins the game. This person usually sits at the east end of the table. There are several other ways to choose the East, which include the person choosing the highest number of a roll of the dice or the highest numbered tile from a shuffled stack.
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Step 2
Select tiles. Reshuffle the tiles and spread them out face down in the middle of the table. Each player will select 13 tiles, and the East will choose 14 tiles since he begins the game. Each player will make a wall with the chosen tiles, leaving them face down in front of him.
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Step 3
Draw a tile. The East will begin the game by looking at the tiles in their wall and deciding which one they want to discard. The discarded tile will be placed facing up on the right side to not get it confused with the rest of the tiles. The player on the right side of the East will look at his tiles and choose a tile from the middle. He can discard either that tile or another tile in his wall. He will place the discarded tile on his right side; the player his immediate right (or west) side will choose next.
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Step 4
Choose a discarded tile instead of one in the middle. If a player sees a discarded tile he needs he can wait until it is his turn and say one of three words, "kong," "pung" or "chow." Kong means that you will have four tiles of the same suit. Pung means that you have three tiles that are the same suit. Chow means that you have three tiles that are numbered sequentially, such as "1,2,3." You cannot choose one of the discarded tiles unless it leadsto one of these three conditions.
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Step 5
For a player to win he must have three suits or color tiles, four triples of either the same suit or identical tiles, and a pair of tiles that are either identical or the same suit. If this doesn't occur and all of the tiles are used, the game ends up in a draw.
